A number of different color spaces have been used to describe the human visual system. In one attempt to define a workable color space, Commission Internationale de l""Eclairage (International Commission on Illumination) developed the CIE Chromaticity Diagram, published in 1931. The CIE color model employed the tristimulus values X, Y, Z based on a standard human observer. The diagram in x and y was later modified to a uxe2x80x2 and vxe2x80x2 diagram in which equal distances on the diagram represent equal perceived color shifts. Useful background discussion of color perception and color models can be found in Billmeyer and Saltznann""s Principles of Color Technology, Third Edition, Wiley and Sons, and in Dr. R. W. G. Hunt""s The Reproduction of Color, Fifth Edition, Fountain Press, England.
FIG. 1 shows a familiar color gamut representation using CIE 1976 L*u*v* conventions, with the perceived eye-brain color gamut in uxe2x80x2-vxe2x80x2 coordinate space represented as a visible gamut 100. Pure, saturated spectral colors are mapped to the xe2x80x9chorseshoexe2x80x9d shaped periphery of the visible gamut 100 curve. The interior of the xe2x80x9chorseshoexe2x80x9d contains all mappings of mixtures of colors, such as spectral red with added blue, which becomes magenta, for example. The interior of the horseshoe can also contain mixtures of pure colors with white, such as spectral red with added white, which becomes pink, for example. The overall color area defined by the xe2x80x9chorseshoexe2x80x9d curve of visible gamut 100 is the full range of color that the human visual system can perceive. It is desirable to represent as much as possible of this area in a color display to come as close as possible to representing the original scene as we would perceive it if we were actually viewing it.
Conventional motion picture display, whether for large-scale commercial color projection from film or for color television cathode ray tubes (CRTs), operates within a fairly well-established color gamut. Referring again to the mapping of FIG. 1, observe that visible gamut 100 shows the full extent of human-perceivable color that, in theory, could be represented for motion picture display. A motion picture film gamut 102 is mapped out within visible gamut 100, showing the reduced extent of color representation achievable with conventional film media. An NTSC TV gamut 104 shows the further restriction placed on achievable colors using conventional color CRT phosphors. It is instructive to note that, because the colors of the CRT phosphors for NTSC TV gamut 104 are not typically saturated, the points defining the color of each phosphor do not lie on the periphery of visible gamut 100. Hence, for example, colors such as turquoise and neon orange can be perceived by the eye in the actual scene but are beyond the color capability of a CRT phosphor system. As is clear from FIG. 1, the range of colors that can be represented using conventional film or TV media falls far short of the full perceivable range of visible gamut 100.
The component colors used for motion picture film have employed red, green, and blue dyes (or their complementary counterparts cyan, magenta, and yellow) as primary colors. Component colors for color television CRTs have employed red, green, and blue phosphors. These dyes and phosphors, initially limited in the colors that they could represent, have been steadily improved. However, as is clear from the gamut mapping represented in FIG. 1, there is still room for improvement in approximating visible gamut 100 in both motion picture and TV environments.
With the advent of digital technology and the demonstration of all-digital projection systems, there is renewed interest in increasing the range or gamut of colors that can be displayed in order to provide a more realistic, more vivid image than is possible with the gamut limitations of film dyes or phosphors. The most promising solutions for digital cinema projection employ, as image forming devices, one of two types of spatial light modulators (SLMs). A spatial light modulator can be considered essentially as a two-dimensional array of light-valve elements, each element corresponding to an image pixel. Each array element is separately addressable and digitally controlled to modulate transmitted or reflected light from a light source. There are two salient types of spatial light modulators that are being employed for forming images in projection and printing apparatus: digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs) and liquid crystal devices (LCDs).
Texas Instruments has demonstrated prototype projectors using one or more DMDs. DMD devices are described in a number of patents, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,441,791; 5,535,047; 5,600,383 (all to Hornbeck); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,695 (Heimbuch). Optical designs for projection apparatus employing DMDs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,914,818 (Tejada et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,050 (Dewald); U.S. Pat. No. 6,008,951 (Anderson); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,717 (Iwai). LCD devices are described, in part, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,213 (Ruiz et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,755 (Smith, Jr. et al.).
While there has been some success in color representation using spatial light modulators, there is a long-felt need for a further broadening of the projection color gamut that will enhance special effects and heighten the viewing experience for an audience.
Faced with a similar problem of insufficient color gamut, the printing industry has used a number of strategies for broadening the relatively narrow gamut of pigments used in process-color printing. Because conventional color printing uses light reflected from essentially white paper, the color representation methods for print employ a subtractive color system. Conventionally, the process colors cyan (blue+green), magenta (red+blue), and yellow (red+green) arc used for representing a broad range of colors. However, due to the lack of spectral purity of the pigment, combinations of cyan, magenta and yellow are unable to yield black, but instead provide a dark brown hue. To improve the appearance of shadow areas, black is added as a fourth pigment. As is well known in the printing arts, further refined techniques, such as undercolor removal could then be used to take advantage of less expensive black pigments in full-color synthesis. Hence, today""s conventional color printing uses the four color CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK) method described above.
However, even with the addition of black, the range of colors that can be represented by printing pigments is limited. There remain specialized colors such as metallic gold or silver, or specific colors such as those used for corporate identity in logos and packaging, for example, that cannot be adequately reproduced using the CMYK xe2x80x9cprocess colorxe2x80x9d system. To meet this need, a fifth pigment can be added to a selected print run in order to provide xe2x80x9cspot colorxe2x80x9d over specific areas of an image. Using this technique, for example, many companies use special color inks linked to a product or corporate identity and use these colors in packaging, advertising, logos, and the like, so that the consumer recognizes a specific product, in part, by this special color.
Colors in addition to the conventional CMYK process color set have been employed to extend the overall color gamut in printing applications. For example, EP 0 586 139 (Litvak) discloses a method for expanding the conventional color gamut that uses the four-color CMYK space to a color space using five or more colors.
Referring back to FIG. 1, it is instructive to note that the color gamut is essentially defined by a polygon, where each vertex corresponds to a substantially pure, saturated color source used as a component color. The area of the polygon corresponds to the size of the color gamut. To expand the color gamut requires moving one or more of these vertices closer to the outline of visible gamut 100. Thus, for example, addition of a color that is inside the polygon defining the color gamut does not expand the color gamut. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,992 (Waldron) discloses using an added xe2x80x9cintra-garnutxe2x80x9d colorant in a printing application. However, as noted in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,992, this method does not expand the color gamut itself, but can be used for other purposes, such as to provide improved representation of pastels or other colors that are otherwise within the gamut but may be difficult to represent using conventional colorants.
Conventional color models, such as the CIE LUV model noted above, represent each individual color as a point in a three-dimensional color space, typically using three independent characteristics such as hue, saturation, and brightness, that can be represented in a three-dimensional coordinate space. Color data, such as conventional image data for a pixel displayed on a color CRT, is typically expressed with three-color components (for example R, G, B). Conventional color projection film provides images using three photosensitized emulsion layers, sensitive to red, blue, and green illumination. Because of these conventional practices and image representation formats, developers of digital projection systems have, understandably, adhered to a three-color model. In conformance with conventional practices, developers have proposed various solutions, such as filtering a bright white light source to obtain red, green, and blue component colors for full color image projection. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,816 (Cipolla et al.) discloses a digital projection system employing dichroic optics to split source white light into suitable red, green, and blue color components.
There have been proposed projection solutions that may employ more than three-color light sources. However, the bulk of solutions proposed have not targeted color gamut expansion. Disclosures of projectors using more than three color sources include U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,073 (Pettit) which discloses a projection apparatus using a filter wheel arrangement that provides four colors in order to maintain brightness and white point purity. However, the fourth color added in this configuration is not spectrally pure, but is white in order to add brightness to the display and to minimize any objectionable color tint. It must be noted that white is analogous to the xe2x80x9cintra-gamutxe2x80x9d color addition noted in the printing application of U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,992. That is, as is well established in color theory, adding white actually reduces the color gamut.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,710 (Raj et al.) discloses the addition of a white light channel to standard R, G, B light channels in a projection apparatus. As was just noted, the addition of white light may provide added luminosity, but constricts the color gamut.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,826 (Murakami et al.) discloses a projector apparatus that uses four colors derived from a single white light source, where the addition of a fourth color, orange, compensates for unwanted effects of spectral distribution that affect the primary green color path. In the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,826, the specific white light source used happens to contain a distinctive orange spectral component. To compensate for this, filtering is used to attenuate undesirable orange spectral content from the green light component in order to obtain a green light having improved spectral purity. Then, with the motive of compensating for the resulting loss of brightness, a separate orange light is added as a fourth color. The disclosure indicates that some expansion of color range is experienced as a side effect. However, with respect to color gamut, it is significant to observe that the solution disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,826 does not appreciably expand the color gamut of a projection apparatus. In terms of the color gamut polygon described above with reference to FIG. 1, addition of an orange light may add a fourth vertex; however, any added orange vertex would be very close to the line already formed between red and green vertices. Thus, the newly formed gamut polygon will, at best, exhibit only a very slight increase in area over the triangle formed using three component colors. Moreover, unless a pure wavelength orange is provided, with no appreciable leakage of light having other colors, there could even be a small decrease in color gamut using the methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,826.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,034 (Brennesholtz) discloses a projection apparatus using up to six colors, employing RGB as well as CMY (cyan, magenta, and yellow) colors that are obtained from a broadband light source. Although such an approach may be useful to enhance brightness and luminance for some colors, the addition of complementary CMY colors does not expand the color gamut and, in practice, could result in a smaller color gamut. Additionally, the embodiment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,034 uses light sources having different polarizations, which prevents use of an analyzer for improving contrast.
In contrast to the above patent disclosures, Patent Application WO 01/95544 A2 (Ben-David et al.) discloses a display device and method for color gamut expansion using four or more substantially saturated colors. While the disclosure of application WO 01/95544 provides improved color gamut, however, the embodiments and methods disclosed apply conventional solutions for generating and modulating each color. The solutions disclosed use either an adapted color wheel with a single spatial light modulator or use multiple spatial light modulators, with a spatial light modulator dedicated to each color. With only one spatial light modulator, however, the timing requirements for display data when multiplexing more than three colors become very demanding, requiring high-speed display devices and image data processing support components. It would be particularly difficult to use LCD spatial light modulators with such an arrangement, since the data settling time required by these devices, which can be as much as 10-20 msec or longer for each color, shortens the available projection time and limits the overall brightness when using more than three colors. Image data must be processed and loaded to a spatial light modulator at very high speeds when using such a solution, possibly necessitating a parallel processing arrangement. Using a filter wheel or similar device has inherent disadvantages. There is considerable xe2x80x9cdead timexe2x80x9d during filter wheel transitions from one color to the next, which limits the amount of time available for modulation of each color. This reduces the available brightness levels that can be achieved. A filter wheel used in an implementation with four or more colors would require high speed revolution, with timing feedback control to maintain precision synchronization with data loading and device response. Without some shuttering means, color crosstalk becomes a problem. Color crosstalk would occur, for example, at a transition of light color while the corresponding data transition is also in process. For these reasons, the filter wheel approach disclosed in WO 01/95544, while it may provide incremental gamut improvement, introduces cost and complexity to projector design and makes it difficult to deliver sufficient brightness for large-scale projection applications. An alternative approach using a separate spatial light modulator for each component color is also noted in the WO 01/95544 application. However, such a solution is expensive and, using the optical arrangement disclosed, would require precise alignment, with re-alignment for different projection distances. Thus, the added cost in using four or more spatial light modulators may not justify an incremental improvement in color gamut for commercial projection devices.
Thus, it can be seen that, with respect to projection apparatus, there have been solutions using a fourth color, however, few of these solutions target the expansion of the color gamut as a goal or disclose methods for obtaining an expanded color gamut. In fact, for many of the solutions listed above, there can even be some loss of color gamut with the addition of a fourth color. Solutions for expanding color gamut such as those disclosed in the WO 01/95544 application would be difficult and costly to implement.
Referring back to FIG. 1, it is instructive to note that the broadest possible gamut is achieved when component colors, that is, colors represented by the vertices of the color gamut polygon, are spectrally pure colors. In terms of the gamut mapping of FIG. 1, a spectrally pure color would be represented as a single point lying on the boundary of the curve representing visible gamut 100. As is well known in the optical arts, lasers inherently provide light sources that exhibit high spectral purity. For this reason, lasers are considered as suitable light sources for digital color projection. In some conventional designs, laser beams are modulated and combined and then raster scanned using electromechanical high speed vertical and low speed horizontal scanners. These scanners typically comprise spinning polygons for high speed scanning and galvanometer driven mirrors for low speed deflection. Vector scan devices that write xe2x80x9ccartoon characterxe2x80x9d outlines with two galvanometer scanners have long been on the market for large area outdoor laser displays, for example. Lasers have also been used with spatial light modulators for digital projection. As one example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,258 (Yamazaki et al.) discloses a laser projection system with red, green, and blue dye lasers providing the primary colors for forming an image using a single shared spatial light modulator.
There have been proposed solutions using more than 3 lasers within a projector wherein the additional laser serves a special purpose other than color projection. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,937 (Bardmesser) discloses a TV display system using as many as four color lasers; however, the fourth laser provides an additional source for achieving increased scan speed and is not a fourth color source. The use of a fourth pump laser is noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,258 cited above and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,424 (Wallenstein), which discloses a color projection system that uses a pump laser source with frequency multipliers to excite projection lasers having the conventional R, G, B colors. Again, this use of a fourth laser does not add a fourth projection color.
In order for digital color projection to compete with conventional film projection technology, it would be advantageous to provide a digital projection apparatus that provides a color gamut having a wider range of colors than can presently be represented. It is desirable to increase the gamut of colors displayed to achieve, inasmuch as is possible, the color gamut of the human eye.
Unlike color projection film, digital projection presents a full-color image as a composite of individual component color frames, conventionally as red, green, and blue components. A digital projection apparatus, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,795,047 (Sannohe et al.) may provide all three component color frames simultaneously. However, this method requires three separate spatial light modulators, one dedicated to each color. As a less expensive alternative, a single spatial light modulator can be shared, providing a sequence of component color frames, multiplexed at a rapid rate, so that the human eye integrates separately displayed color frames into a single color image. When using three colors, this multiplexing method may be capable of providing a color-sequenced image in a series of component color frames that are switched rapidly enough so that color transitions arc imperceptible to an observer. However, as was noted above with reference to application WO 01/95544, a four-color projection apparatus may not be able to provide frame sequencing at a sufficient rate for maintaining flicker-free imaging at needed brightness levels. Moreover, at the same time, the added cost of a fourth spatial light modulator may be prohibitive, preventing manufacturers from taking advantage of the additional color gamut that is available.
There have been a number of solutions proposed for reducing the number of spatial light modulators used in a projection apparatus. Field-sequential or color-sequential operation, widely used for low-end projectors such as those used for business presentations, employs a single spatial light modulator that is temporally shared for each of the primary RGB colors, in multiplexed fashion. However, device response time problems for data loading, setup, and modulation response time limit the usefulness of the field-sequential approach for higher quality devices. Proposed alternatives to alleviate response time constraints include configurations using dual spatial light modulators, as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,160 (Ho), which discloses a projection apparatus using two spatial light modulators, one for modulating the s-polarization component of incident light, the other for modulating the p-polarization component. With a similar approach, U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,650 (Doany et al.) also discloses a projector using two spatial light modulators, one for light having s-polarization and one for light having p-polarization. While the approaches used in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,203,160 and 5,921,650 provide some advantages with respect to efficient use of light, this type of approach has some drawbacks. Achieving high contrast when using both s- and p-polarization states can be difficult, requiring additional polarization devices in each light modulation path. Both U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,160 and 5,921,650 use a broadband white light and a color filter wheel for providing a color illumination source. This approach adds mechanical cost and complexity and limits the flexibility of the illumination system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,174 (Knox) discloses an image display apparatus using two spatial light modulators, with the first spatial light modulator dedicated to a single primary color and the second spatial light modulator multiplexed between the other two primary colors using a color shutter. This approach reduces the switching speed requirements of apparatus using a single spatial light modulator. However, the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,174, since it is intended for use within a small display device, is designed for a lamp-based light source. It would prove difficult to obtain the necessary brightness or image quality for a projector apparatus using the approach of U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,174, for example.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,612,753 and 5,905,545 (Poradish et al.) disclose projection apparatus that employ two spatial light modulators, each within a modulator system that has its own projection lens. For providing source illumination, a color filter wheel is deployed in the path of a broadband light source. The approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,612,753 and 5,905,545 alleviate the timing constraints of projection apparatus when compared against approaches using a single spatial light modulator in field sequential fashion. However, the arrangement of components disclosed in these patents is mechanically complex, requires multiple separate projection optics and, because it derives color illumination from a broadband light source, is limited with respect to brightness.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,034 (Brennesholtz) described above utilizes dual spatial light modulators, one for RGB primary colors, the other for CMY complementary colors. As was noted, this approach augments the luminance range available, rather than expanding the color gamut. Moreover, with this arrangement, both spatial light modulators operate in color sequential mode, each shared among three colors in multiplexed fashion. Thus, the arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,034 provides no relief for timing problems due to color sequential operation when compared with existing three-color projection solutions.
Thus, although there have been some proposed solutions using two spatial light modulators for projection apparatus using three or more colors, there is room for improvement. Lamps and other broadband light sources set practical limits on brightness levels achievable, particularly where color filter wheels or similar devices that cause some amount of light attenuation or have inherent xe2x80x9cdead spacexe2x80x9d during transitions are employed. The use of color wheels makes it unwieldy to alter or adjust illumination timing. Response times of spatial light modulator devices further constrain the possible timing sequences, particularly where these devices are multiplexed among three colors. In the face of these difficulties, the advantages of expanding the color gamut with an additional color would not be considered within reach using conventional design approaches.
At the same time, an ongoing concern of motion picture producers relates to the loss of substantial potential revenue due to illegal camcorder copying of movies from the projection screen. While various copy protection methods using conventional digital projection apparatus have been tried, there is room for improvement.
Thus, it can be seen that although conventional approaches to digital projection can be used with a four-color projection system, there is a need for inventive solutions that ease performance constraints, allow improved image quality, and offer opportunities for camcorder defeat.
Briefly, according to one aspect of the present invention provides a display apparatus for projection of a color image from digital data onto a surface, the apparatus comprising:
(a) a first modulation system for providing a first modulated beam, the first modulation system comprising:
(a1) a first spatial light modulator for modulating a first incident light beam in order to form the first modulated beam according to the digital data;
(a2) a first light source for providing a first color beam as the first incident light beam;
(a3) a second light source for providing a second color beam as the first incident light beam;
(b) a second modulation system for providing a second modulated beam, the second modulation system comprising:
(b1) a second spatial light modulator for modulating a second incident light beam in order to form the second modulated beam according to the digital data;
(b2) a third light source for providing a third color beam as the second incident light beam;
(b3) a fourth light source for providing a fourth color beam as the second incident light beam; and
(c) an optical combiner for directing the first modulated beam and the second modulated beam onto a common axis for projection onto the surface by a projection lens.
A feature of the present invention is the use of light sources having a high degree of spectral purity in order to provide the fullest possible color gamut. Lasers, because they are inherently color saturated, are the light sources used in the preferred embodiment.
A feature of the present invention is the use of a pair of spatial light modulators, each alternately modulated by one of two colors. This arrangement allows a number of timing sequences to be implemented for optimizing image quality as well as for allowing camcorder defeat schemes.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it provides an apparatus capable of achieving wider color gamut for displaying digital motion pictures when compared with conventional three-color laser and arc lamp based equipment. The apparatus and method of the present invention allows the display of colors that were not possible with previous systems.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it employs laser light, which is inherently polarized. Thus, there is no need for filtering or polarization of the laser light when directed toward an LCD spatial light modulator, and no consequent filter losses.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that it allows optimization of optical and support components for the light modulation path.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.